CULT: Mulch


>Now here is a bit of unusual for you all. The garden we were in was on
>hard pan clay onto which was dumped anywhere from 12 to 24 inches of
>chipped tree mulch. They get the mulch from local tree pruners. It is
>the large chip mulch that comes from the chippers used to grind up the
>trees they take down or trim.
>
>The irises are planted as usual with the top of the rhizome exposed and
>they are going bananas! Their one year clumps look like they have been
>there 2-3 years. It was just amazing. We found very little signs of rot.
>I would not necessarily recommend this for everyone particularily in
>very humid conditions, but I think I may try it in part of my garden.
>They do take great care to keep the tops of the rzs clear of the mulch.

I have couple of beds I keep going out here at school, flanking the
greenhouse potting shed.  The soil is pretty good sandy loam that was put
in place in 1968.  Three years ago we laid down about 8" of chopped oak
stumps and red clay (this came from chipping stumps around the campus, from
trees that were taken down or killed by ice storms).  I "rescued" some
rhizome bits from renovation of iris beds in my home garden and brought
them out here, planting them in the mulch last summer (it had broken down
considerably).  These have made large blooming size rhizomes and have
generally outperformed iris in my home beds.  I'm looking for a big bloom
show next spring.  Like the garden John describes, the mulch does not cover
the rhizomes, but they are definitely growing in it.

Paradoxically, this mulch was laid down OVER some surviving pure aril and
high % arilbreds, and they have grown up THROUGH it.  They look very
healthy.

Makes one wonder about pH and irises.  I recall that after I talked in OKC
about my acid soil, George Sutton talked about his alkaline one--bearded
irises seem to do fine in both.

I think the key is not so much soil quality (although you have to have some
minimum, obviously) but just NEW soil regardless of where it came from,
that has not grown irises before.  There are definite benefits to moving
your irises every three years or so, or in some cases, annually (Ben Hager
recommended that for arilbreds, but I think not for soil-related reasons).
Rick Tasco is famous for the large rhizomes he sends out, and he replants
annually in solarized fresh soil.  Likewise Schreiners' Gardens rotates
irises and crops like grasses and legumes.  Looks like a lesson here.  In
my book I characterized bearded irises as plants of temporary
environments--pioneers of disturbed situations.  We replicate that when we
move them about on a short term basis.


Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<wshear@email.hsc.edu>
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